Jacqueline Klimas

John McCain: Holding NDAA hostage isn’t solution to sequestration

Sen. John McCain said Tuesday that even though the defense policy bill before the Senate isn't an ideal solution since it doesn't solve sequestration, it's a better option than holding up the bill that touches all corners over the Defense Department to force an agreement to lift spending caps.

June 2, 2015

U.S. bombers hold fire on Islamic State targets amid ground intelligence blackout

Nearly 75 percent of U.S. bombing runs targeting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria returned to base without firing any weapons in the first four months of 2015, holding their fire mainly because of a lack of ground intelligence and raising questions about President Obama's key tactic in pushing back an enemy that continues to expand its territory in the war zone.

May 31, 2015

Active-duty troops, contractors taking antibiotics for possible anthrax exposure

Fifteen of the 22 personnel potentially exposed to live anthrax in South Korea were active-duty troops, the Pentagon said Thursday, just one day after the military admitted that it mistakenly sent at least one live anthrax sample to a civilian lab.

May 28, 2015

Defense Dept. sends live anthrax sample to Maryland lab

An accident at a DoD lab in Utah may have exposed more than 20 American military personnel to anthrax, the Air Force said Wednesday.

May 27, 2015

Islamic State planting IEDs, improving defenses in Ramadi ahead of counterattack

Islamic State fighters are planting improvised explosive devices around Ramadi as Iraqi forces on the city limits prepare for a counterattack to retake the city, the Pentagon said Wednesday.

May 27, 2015

Iraqi forces fighting to retake Ramadi

Iraq forces launched an offensive to retake Ramadi on Tuesday, signaling the enormous political pressure the Baghdad government is under to restore faith in its mission to defeat the Islamic State, analysts said.

May 26, 2015

Islamic State seizure of Ramadi has ex-troops frustrated with Iraqi forces, U.S. strategy

Echoing concerns of Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, who said Iraqi troops have not shown a "will to fight" the Islamic State, many U.S. servicemen and women have expressed frustration over the Iraqi army's inability to defend its nation, and hold varying views on how much U.S. engagement is the right way forward.

May 25, 2015

Veterans seeking jobs benefit from companies’ training programs, hiring initiatives

When Emir Zapanta left the Army after serving 10 years as a cook, he had a Purple Heart from a mortar attack in Iraq, experience feeding 3,600 hungry troops — but few job prospects that could use those skills.

May 24, 2015

Hollywood, theater share first-person perspective of war for those who never served

In an age where the vast majority of Americans never put on a uniform, actors say movies and plays that share a first-person perspective of war with the audience are one way the nation can understand the sacrifices made by those who served.

May 22, 2015

CENTCOM: U.S. airstrikes in Syria killed two civilian children

U.S. airstrikes in Syria in November likely killed two civilian children, according to a Central Command report released Thursday night.

May 22, 2015

Former military leaders ask for better congressional oversight of women in combat

Former top military leaders are asking Congress to exercise its oversight over the process of integrating women into combat, saying they need to look harder at the effect it could have on readiness and unit cohesion.

May 21, 2015

Faith leaders, advocates champion military caregivers on Capitol Hill

Military caregivers say their faith is often what got them through the darkest times, and they urged religious leaders and advocates gathered on Capitol Hill on Thursday to help them out and learn more about the issue.

May 21, 2015

Iraq forces ex-trainers see fatal flaws for Iraqi soldiers

A U.S. soldier who helped train some of the first post-Saddam Hussein Iraqi forces in 2004 said the nation's soldiers are likelier to lay down their weapons and flee in the face of a fight because the force is largely devoid of leadership and operating under a fractured government.

May 20, 2015

Iraq, Afghanistan forces struggling despite years of U.S. investment, training

Battlefield reverses in Iraq and the stepped-up tempo of terrorist strikes in the heart of Afghanistan's capital in recent days are raising fresh questions about whether U.S. efforts to stand up and train both countries' armed forces will ever pay off militarily.

May 19, 2015

NRA: Cruz wants to let soldiers carry sidearms to protect against terror threats

Sen. Ted Cruz is asking lawmakers to consider allowing troops to carry personal firearms on base for protection, reviving a fight that has previously been a nonstarter with Congress after military leaders said they didnt support the change.

May 19, 2015

Retaliation for reporting sexual assaults rampant in military: Report

A Human Rights Watch report released Monday found widespread retaliation among the ranks including obscene name-calling, social isolation and discharges for misconduct after reporting sexual-assault.

May 18, 2015

As Ramadi falls, Pentagon says Islamic State is on the defense in broader fight

The Pentagon acknowledged Monday that the fall of Ramadi to Islamic State terrorists is a setback for residents of the Iraqi city, but it maintained that the terrorist group is on the defense in the broader fight.

May 18, 2015

Islamic State seizes Ramadi, Iraq, counters U.S. claim terrorist group on defensive

As American officials say they are putting the Islamic State on the defensive, a key Iraqi city fell to the Islamist group and analysts cautioned that the U.S. may be downplaying gains by the terrorists under pressure for the coalition campaign to be seen as succeeding.

May 17, 2015

U.S. commandos enter Syria, kill Abu Sayyaf, Islamic State commander in charge of oil fields

Special operators killed an Islamic State senior leader during a raid in Syria on Friday night, the Pentagon announced.

May 16, 2015

6 Marines presumed dead in Nepal chopper crash

The six Marines involved in the helicopter crash in Nepal earlier this week are presumed dead Friday after search-and-rescue personnel located the crash site, the Pentagon said Friday.

May 15, 2015